Summary: Equipment for Farming
Key dates:
The discovery of metal meant that it was possible for farmers to make better quality ploughs and implements. Bronze sickles were used for reaping and, towards the end of the Bronze Age, harnessed horses were being used. The discovery of wooden yokes for horses or cattle indicates that these animals were used in pairs to pull some form of equipment.
In the Iron Age the early ploughs or ards were fitted with coulters. These were an almost vertically held knife which cut the sod. It was not until the early medieval period that mouldboards were used to turn the sod upside down.
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